To say that there is a connection between The Devil’s Blood and Roadburn would be an understatement. The band brought its occult rock to the 2008 and 2009 editions of the festival and, merely six weeks after the death of founding member Selim Lemouchi in 2014, an important part of his mourning was conducted at the festival with the final performance of Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies, with the musicians “assembled in a semi-circle with Selim’s spirit palpable at the centre.” It was a fitting goodbye to one of the most influential Dutch musicians of the decade that had past, or, as told by the festival “those that knew him would have sworn to his presence, those that admired him recognised the imprint of his life’s work.”

As is probably clear from the preceding paragraph, the second commissioned performance announced for the 2019 edition of Roadburn is a continuation of the legacy of The Devil’s Blood. It will consist of the first performance by the Molasses project, named after the final song on the «Earth Air Spirit Water Fire» album by Selim Lemouchi & His Enemies, and comprising former The Devil’s Blood members Farida Lemouchi, Oeds Beydals, Job van de Zande, and Ron van Herpen alongside Astrosoniq‘s Marcel van de Vondervoort, Birth Of Joy‘s Bob Hogenelst, and Donnerwetter‘s Matthijs Stronks.

As stated in the announcement, the performance will not include any trips down the back catalogue of The Devil’s Blood, nor of Astrosoniq, and while “Molasses may be shot through with the DNA that made those bands tick, but this is very clearly – and definitively – a new beginning.” In an interview with Decibel Magazine, Farida makes this sentiment even clearer, stating that “the audience needs to understand that this is new and that it’s not old and that we’re not going to be a sequel,” adding that, “Molasses is all about letting go, using the shit that’s been before, but still letting go, and then going on somewhere new with all this baggage that we have. That’s the whole concept actually. It’s all about that and it feels great. And it’s time. It’s time.”

Molasses will perform on the 013‘s main stage on Thursday, April 11. Recall that tickets for Roadburn 2019 are already available and can be found here.